Ossian Hall Plantation House (Site)

These coordinates mark the exact spot where the house used to stand until it was demolished in 1959. No remains are visible here.


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Here follows an excerpt from the 1970 Fairfax County Master Inventory of Historic Sites which contained entries from the Historic American Buildings Survey Inventory:

Ossian Hall:
Henry Fitzhugh, second cousin of William Fitzhugh, inherited part of the Ravensworth tract and in 1783 partitioned his holdings among his five sons -- the Ossian Hall property went to Nicholas Fitzhugh, the first member of the family to reside on that particular property.

The Fitzhughs and the Washingtons of Mount Vernon were good friends, and the design of Ossian Hall (two stories, two rooms deep, portico and center hall) could have been patterned after Mount Vernon, although the roof-line and chimney placement are different. Nicholas Fitzhugh probably built Ossian Hall, perhaps incorporating a smaller earlier structure.

Ossian Hall was purchased in 1804 by Dr. David Stuart of "Hope Park." He was the husband of Eleanor (Calvert) (Custis) Stuart, granddaughter of Lord Baltimore and widow of Martha Washington's son John (Jacki) Parke Custis. Dr. Stuart was one of the first three commissioners of the District of Columbia, a director of the Patowmack Canal Company, and participated in cornerstone ceremonies for the Federal District and the U.S. Capitol.

Following the death of Senator Joseph L. Bristow, who owned the Ravensworth tract from 1918-1944, the property was purchased for subdivision development and Ossian Hall, unoccupied for several years, fell pray to thieves and vandals. Because it thus became a neighborhood hazard, the Fairfax County Fire Department was asked by the Board of Supervisors to burn the structure, on September 3, 1959.


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Here follows an excerpt from local author and historian Mary B. Lipsey's "This Old House: Annandale, Springfield, Burke & Beyond" presentation:

If Ossian Hall looks kind of familiar, let me tell you that the Fitzhugh houses, none of them had what I call the "Mount Vernon columns" until a certain architect moved into the area and I'll get to his story in the future. Ossian Hall is located at the corner of Boyton Road and Boyton Drive not far from Annandale High School. The correct pronunciation is "ocean" because I have read a Southern Claims deposition which Anna Maria Fitzhugh had given and I'll talk about her in a minute. But it was transcribed and the person who heard her say it wrote O-C-E-A-N. So to me that's why.

Ossian Hall is another Fitzhugh home built by a grandson of the first William Fitzhugh. He provided the directions for Jefferson to get to the area. He raised 12 children there in 1804. It was bought by David Stewart who was married to Eleanor Calbert, who was the widow of Jackie Washington, who was the son of George Washington. George Washington came here to Ossian Hall many, many times during the Civil War. Francis Dickens and his wife moved there to be a farmer. He had worked for the War and Treasury Department and he was in favor of the South seceding. So he moved in to Ossian Hall. They were threatened by the Confederates many times. Mrs. Dickens was an adamant Confederate supporter. She would put confederate flags on the bridles of horses. Her husband was accused of being a Confederate supervisor and arrested seven times. He was taken to the old Washington prison downtown. Soldiers invaded Ossian Hall. They confiscated money, papers, liquor, and sheep. You see their priorities there.

Mrs. Dickens in her journal wrote about watch 4,000 Union soldiers marching down the road. She had one good friend who lived across Braddock Road, which was originally called the Mountain Road. It wasn't until the early 1800's when it became known as Braddock Road. That good friend was Anna Maria Fitzhugh of Ravensworth. They did not leave their homes during the Civil War for fear somebody would come and take it. They communicated through their servants. We would take baskets of food and one would say, "Hey, do you have any butter or sugar?" What Mrs. Dickens was actually asking was, "Do you have a newspaper?" Somehow, Anna Maria Fitzhugh was still getting the news somehow.

So after the Civil War ended, the Dickens moved out of the area. By 1918, you had Senator John Bristow of Kansas who purchased Ossian Hall. He and his family lived there. It wasn't a farm at that time, it was just the property. It was way downtrodden when he died. There was much discussion about making it into a museum or senior living or a lodge, but nobody wanted to buy. So his family decided, what are we going to do with it? So they gave it to the Annandale Volunteer Fire Department to use for training and they burned it down. In fact, have you ever had an Annandale Fire Department truck come to your house? Some of them have a logo on the truck, and the logo is the Ossian Hall house.


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Here follows an excerpt from "The Story of Ravensworth" website as prepared by John Browne:

Nicholas Fitzhugh built the house c.1783 for his residence on Parcel 1.1.2. It appears to be the first Fitzhugh home built on Ravensworth land, and Nicholas the first Fitzhugh to live on Ravensworth.

The house’s design included a front portico, two stories, center hall and two rooms deep. Somewhat similar in appearance to George Washington’s Mount Vernon, its designer may have taken Mount Vernon as a model.

Ossian Hall Named
In 1804, Dr. David Stuart purchased the house with 831 adjoining acres from Nicholas Fitzhugh. He named the plantation Ossian Hall in honor of his family’s roots in Scotland.

The house and plantation changed hands several times in the next 70 years.

On David Stuart’s death in 1814, the tract passed to his son William Sholto Stuart.
On William’s death in 1822, it passed to his sisters Sarah, Arianna, Eleanor and Rosalie.
In 1833, the Stuart sisters sold the property to Stephenson Scott and William Stephenson Scott. According to Robert Moxham, it’s unknown whether and for how long the Scotts resided at Ossian Hall. Citing the Alexandria Gazette, he reports that by January 1837 William Brent’s “Seminary for Youths” was operating at Ossian Hall “where boarding students could be accommodated.”1
In 1838, it was purchased by William, Thomas and Henry Steers.
in 1839, Thomas and Jane Crux bought the property.
1n 1843, the Crux sold the house with 598 acres to Francis A. Dickins.
In 1878, the Dickins were forced to sell to Jacob Stout in an out-of-court debt settlement.
(further research on subsequent owners pending)

Civil War
Ossian Hall was located in what became a “no man’s land” between armies and later Union-occupied territory. Sympathetic to the southern cause, Francis and Margaret Dickins experienced arrests, confiscations of property and eventually abandoned the home to move behind Confederate lines. Margaret’s diary recounts experiences and some of what she sees from the porch and windows of Ossian Hall during the months of February to October 1862.

Destroyed in 1959
Abandoned and neglected for many years, Ossian Hall was destroyed in 1959 to make way for building new homes.


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Fitzhugh, Nicholas (1764-1814)
Role in Ravensworth: Owner parcels 1.1.2, 1.1.6, 1.1.3.1/1.1.3.2, 1.1.5.2, 1.1.7.1

Nicholas was one of fourteen children born to Henry (Colonel) and Sarah (Battaile) Fitzhugh. In 1788, he married Sarah Ashton (1769-1820), daughter of Major Burdett Ashton and Anne Washington Ashton of King George County. They had 12 children:

1. Henrietta Sarah Fitzhugh (1789-1879), married her cousin Henry Fitzhugh (son of her father’s brother George), together they settled and are credited as founders of Ravenswood, West Virginia on land inherited through her mother from George Washington’s estate.
2. Augustine Washington Fitzhugh (1791-1875)
3. Lucy Battaile Fitzhugh (1793-1850)
4. Dr. Edmund Fitzhugh (1796-1832)
5. Burdett Fitzhugh (1796-1814)
6. Henry William Fitzhugh (1797-1855)
7. Hardiman Charles Fitzhugh (1799-1862)
8. Lawrence Fitzhugh (1801-1855)
9. Ann Elizabeth Jane Fitzhugh (1802-1866)
10. Mary Conway Mason Fitzhugh (1804-1842)
11. Sarah Nicholas Fitzhugh (1808-1820)
12. Sophia Bland Fitzhugh (1810-1863)

Nicholas Fitzhugh is likely the first Fitzhugh to actually reside at Ravensworth where he built Ossian Hall c.1783 (so named by a later owner) for his residence on a part his inherited land. He is listed in the 1789 tax rolls along with seven slaves. He expanded his holdings by purchasing additional Ravensworth acres from his brothers and from a neighbor.

A successful lawyer practicing in Fairfax County, Nicholas was educated at William and Mary College. He represented Fairfax County in the Virginia House of Delegates in 1790-91 and 1802. President Thomas Jefferson appointed him a judge of the U.S. Circuit Court of the District of Columbia in 1803, where he served until death in 1814.2

He sold Ossian Hall along with a portion of his Ravensworth inheritance in 1804 and was living on Washington Street in Alexandria, VA close to his court when he died. His will divided the remaining Ravensworth land among his living sons: Augustine, Charles, Edmund, Henry, and Lawrence.

Hosting President Thomas Jefferson
Jefferson’s personal account books indicate that he was Nicholas’ overnight guest at Ossian Hall on July 19-20, 1803.3 The next year, Nicholas assisted with Jefferson’s April 1-2, 1804 visit and travel to Monticello in an exchange of letters that also reveal something about local roads and travel challenges at that time.


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Stuart, David (1763-1814)
Role in Ravensworth: owner Parcel 1.1.2

David Stuart was born in Scotland where he studied medicine before emigrating to Virginia and setting up a medical practice in Alexandria. He joined George Washington’s extended family in 1783 when he married Eleanor Calvert Custis (1757/1758-1811), widowed daughter-in-law of Martha Washington. They raised two of four children from Eleanor’s marriage to Martha Washington’s son John Parke Custis: Eliza Parke and Martha Parke Custis. The Washingtons adopted the two younger children: Eleanor Parke and George Washington Parke Custis (1781-1857).

David and Eleanor had 16 children together, including:

1. Ann Calvert Stuart
2. Sarah Stuart (born 1786), married Obed Waite (1766-1845), lawyer and mayor of Winchester, VA from 1824 to 18314
3. Ariana Calvert Stuart (born 1789)
4. William Sholto Stuart (1792-1822), unmarried
5. Eleanor Custis Stuart (born 1796), unmarried
6. Charles Calvert Stuart (1794–1846), married Cornelia Lee Tuberville
7. Rosalie Eugenia Stuart (1801–1886), married William Greenleaf Webster

Creating the Capital
David Stuart is probably best known for his four years (1791-1794) as a Commissioner of the District of Columbia. He was one of the original three, and the sole commissioner from Virginia, appointed by President George Washington to oversee the creation of the new U.S. Capital. They supervised the survey and acquisition of land, sale of lots and construction of public buildings, including the work of Pierre Charles L’Enfant in implementing his design for layout and construction of the city. Early on, the commissioners chose “Washington” for the city’s name. During Stuart’s tenure, difficulties with L’Enfant led to his dismissal by President Washington in 1792.

State and Local Positions
Stuart for several years represented Fairfax County in the Virginia House of Delegates, along with George Mason. He was a member from 1786 to 1789 and perhaps even earlier, and represented the county in the Virginia convention of 1788 that ratified the U.S. Constitution – Stuart voted to ratify. He was an elector in the 1789 presidential election that chose George Washington the first President of the United States.

In local offices, he served as a justice of the Fairfax County Court in 1784 and 1808. In May 1798 he was appointed Commissioner with Colonel William Payne, Charles Little, James Wren, and Charles Minor to select the site for and manage building a new courthouse.

Advisor to George Washington
George Washington’s correspondence reveals that enlisting Stuart in guiding creation of the new capital city was not the first time Washington had relied on him in important matters. Three examples:

During the public debate between the Federalists, who favored ratification of the proposed United States Constitution, and the opposing Anti-federalists, Washington called on Stuart. Sending him copies of anonymous Federalist essays that were being published in New York – part of what became known as The Federalist Papers – Washington asked Stuart to have them also published in Richmond, Virginia.
He swore Stuart to secrecy: “Altho’ I am acquainted with some of the writers…I am not at liberty to disclose their names, nor would I have it known that they are sent by me to you for promulgation.” Stuart passed the essays to Augustine Davis, who printed them in the Virginia Independent Chronicle in December 1787.

In July 1789, three months after assuming the presidency, Washington wrote Stuart, in part:
…your communications without any reserve will be exceedingly grateful and pleasing to me. While the eyes of America, and perhaps of the world, are turned to this government, and many are watching the movements of all those, who are concerned in its administration, I should like to be informed, through so good a medium, of the public opinion of both men and measures, and of none more than myself; not so much of what may be thought commendable parts, if any, of my conduct, as of those which are conceived to be of a different complexion.

An exchange of letters in June 1790 mixed family business with a report on public opinion like the president had encouraged from Stuart.

On June 2nd, Stuart first reports on a legal case with a Mr. Alexander – probably the long standing dispute over terms for land that John Parke Custis had purchased before his death. The letter then reports on a “Catalogue of Public discontents” in Virginia regarding: a perceived effort in Congress to constrain slavery; whether the new federal government should assume state war debt from the Revolution; closed-door sessions of the U.S. Senate; “The slowness with which the business is carried on…Congress it is said, sit only four hours a day, and like School boys observe every Saturday as a Holyday.”

Responding on June 15, Washington begins: “Your description of the public Mind, in Virginia, gives me pain. It seems to be more irritable, sour and discontented than (from the information received) it is in any other State in the Union, except Massachusetts; which, from the same causes, but on quite different principles, is tempered like it.” He then responds to each of the complaints, first defending Congress’ work schedule and slow pace: “The fact is, by the established rules of the House of Representatives, no Committee can sit whilst the House is sitting; and this is, and has been for a considerable time, from ten o’clock in the forenoon until three, often later, in the afternoon; before and after which the business is going on in Committees.” Washington’s thorough arguments in countering this complaint and objections to debt assumption perhaps were directed to more than just David Stuart, as though he expected that Stuart would pass the arguments on. He closes with a complaint of his own, explaining steps taken to control his schedule and protect his time from: “Gentlemen, consulting their own convenience rather than mine, were calling from the time I rose from breakfast, often before, until I sat down to dinner.”

Ossian Hall Plantation
David Stuart bought Parcel 1.1.2, which he named Ossian Hall, from Nicholas Fitzhugh in 1804. That same year, his stepson George Washington Park Custis married Mary Lee Fitzhugh, daughter of William Fitzhugh (of Chatham) of close by Ravensworth. The short walking distance between the Ossian Hall and Ravensworth manor houses likely facilitated the already close relationship between these members of the Fitzhugh and Washington families. (The Stuart family moved to Ossian Hall from the 1250-acre Hope Park plantation, which Stuart bought in 1785 from Edward Payne.)

On David Stuart’s death in 1814, Parcel 1.1.2 passed to his son William Sholto Stuart, and on William’s death in 1822, to his sisters Sarah, Arianna, Eleanor and Rosalie. They sold the property in 1833.